


Runes

by Servena



Series: Witchkeeper [4]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Medieval, Captivity, Developing Relationship, Gen, M/M, Magic, Magic-Users, Mute!Gene, Muteness, Past Abuse, Runes, Slavery, Tattoos, Trust, Witchcraft, Witches, Witchkeeper!Babe, faith - Freeform, witch!gene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-09 07:58:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20850101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Servena/pseuds/Servena
Summary: Witches have marked themselves with runes since the days before time.





	Runes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [miss_grey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_grey/gifts).

In general, a wandering witch under a witchkeeper gets to exercise its magical abilities for at most one or two hours a day, which is when they’ll be working and their performance matters. Of course higher earning witches get supervised training hours to hone their skills, but most witches are bound for as long as possible so they don’t cause any trouble.

Gene finds himself amazed at the difference it makes when he’s able to use magic whenever he feels like it. Of course one free hand doesn’t lend itself to bigger spells (as it shouldn’t, otherwise it certainly wouldn’t be free in the first place), and he has to make sure he’s alone or his master is there to watch him, since a captured witch doing unsupervised magic is against the law, but it’s an opportunity to toy around and to try out new things.

At first he’s wary of his master’s reactions, but he doesn’t seem to mind, he just watches with a quiet curiosity as Gene levitates apples and tries to lift his bag of herbs without touching it. Figuring out how to move water the same way as dense things takes him about a week, but since they’re travelling along a river, he has the time.

Of course it feels good. Doing magic all the time, doing magic just for himself, not for a goal, not because he’s told to, but because he can – it’s like a breath of fresh air after years of stifling darkness. But it also does wonders to his abilities.

Ever since losing the ability to talk, he has had trouble to control his magic. Words are a powerful tool for concentration, and without them he feels lost, the energy within him too overwhelming. But slowly he finds that saying them in his mind also works, if not as good. And the hours of training start to pay off.

Fire is more difficult than water, the strongest of the elements, but also the most volatile. He burns himself multiple times within one day, but his master doesn’t say anything, just lets him take the time to mix up a healing salve to treat himself. He thinks about it for the whole ride the next day as he’s trying not to fiddle with the bandage around his hand, turning the problem over in his mind. Soon, he comes to a decision.

Witches have marked themselves with runes since the days before time, as a tool of focus and to increase their power. Now more expensive witches are marked up professionally to increase their value, but Gene has never garnered enough interest in himself for that to happen. And in truth he’d always shied away from them because once you have them there’s no turning back, you will be marked as a witch for all the world to see for the rest of your life.

But if he’s honest with himself, his powers have long since surpassed what would makes a life in hiding possible, and the past years have left its own marks on his skin. In the years before that have mostly disappeared from his memory, he’s fought other witches for money more than once, and being hit by another’s magic left scars on the skin like the branches of a tree, similar to those when you’re hit by lightning. Now that he has gained some color, the white lines stand out more than ever.

He picks out the ink and the needle in the market of the next town, inspecting them carefully under the watchful eyes of the stand owner. When he presents them to Babe in a silent quest for payment, his master’s look is puzzled. “What do you need that for?”

He paints an invisible rune with his finger on his arm as an explanation, and is understood.

Working by firelight is not ideal, but he feeds it dry wood until it is bright enough. All day he has thought about what his first mark should be. There aren’t many memories left in him of his mother, but her teachings have risen up within his mind upon his calling. Usually his first mark would be chosen by someone who knows him well and can tell what he needs to guide him, usually a family member, but there’s no one here but him, so he’ll have to make the choice himself.

He knows all the other traditional marks a young witch will get during their training, beginning with the basic elements, but feels like they don’t fit him. He’s not young anymore, and even if he’s trying to master fire now, what he needs is something with a deeper meaning. Finally he remembers what it is he needs the most.

He heats up the needle in the fire to make it clean, and similarly wipes off the area on his skin with alcohol. Then he sketches out the rune with an ink-tipped finger on the inner side of his left arm. Usually another witch would do his first mark for him, but since there’s only him, he makes do.

He’s already used a poultice of different herbs to numb the skin a bit, but the first prick still hurts, and so does the second. They’re too deep and he draws drops of blood as he hisses at the stinging. His hand is shaking and he has to take a few deep breaths before he can continue.

He can feel his master’s gaze on him but he doesn’t look up, trying to stay focused on the work in front of him. He’s afraid to do it wrong, but he’s afraid he’ll do it right, too. Already he can feel his skin warm where the magic within him is awakened and it’s sending tingle up his spine, making him feel restless, uneasy. He really wishes he could take off the binding on this arm as well.

By the time he’s finished with the outline, sweat is running down his temples despite the cool air around him and he’s clenched his teeth so hard his jaw hurts. Now he needs to fill it out, but instead he puts the needle down to stretch out his trembling fingers. This is harder than he’d expected.

He startles as his master leans forward to take the needle into his hand. “Here, let me.” His hesitation must be obvious, because he motions at his arm and says: “I only have to fill it in, right?”

It sounds simple enough. But here’s the thing: Gene hates other people touching him. Witches aren’t touched often as it is, and when they are, it’s usually to inflict pain. So his first instinct is to pull away. But he also knows that his concentration is fading and there’s a good chance he will mess this up if he isn’t careful.

He struggles with the decision for a minute. But then he thinks about the meaning of his rune, and he puts his arm out.

He doesn’t have to remind his master to heat up the needle again since it’s no longer clean. Then his master leans forward, red hair glowing the light of the fire as he begins to work.

It’s easier when someone else does it. This way he can focus on letting himself relax, on letting the pain wash over him like waves over a rock. He imagines the magic within him as a calm lake and he can feel it work. Watching his master’s hand move is almost hypnotizing, one small prick after another down the lines he already made.

He almost startles when his master sits back up. “I think I’m done.”

Gene turns his arm to examine it. The mark is a stark black on his pale skin. The light scars almost seem to disappear around it. It’s not perfect, but it feels _right_, like a warm hand print on his otherwise cool skin, and he immediately knows it worked.

“What does that mean?” his master asks finally.

“Faith”, he writes down into the earth illuminated by the firelight.


End file.
